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High on Fire / Jeff Matz

How would you describe your tone?
I go for a huge, bottom-heavy sound. My typical setup is an 8x10 cabinet with an early-’80s SVT head. I turn that on its side and put my Marshall cabinet with an old Laney guitar head on top and split my bass signal. Because I use bass and guitar amps, I get both a beefy SVT tone and a screaming Motörhead sound. The combination adds an element to my sound that I can’t recreate with any fuzz boxes. It’s pretty rude!

GEAR

Bass First Act Limited Edition Delgada; GHS Bass Boomers (.050–.115), Dunlop Tortex Picks (1.14mm)
Rig ’80s Ampeg SVT VL head and 8x10 cab; ’70s Laney Klipp head and Marshall 4x12 cab
Effects MXR M80 Bass DI, Fulltone Bass-Drive MOSFET, Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff, Whirlwind A/B Box, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
“I run the DI, with distortion as my primary tone, into the SVT. I’ve also been using Matt’s Metal Muff to get a crazy, overdriven sound. We like the heaviness of tuning down two steps to CFBbEb.”

from here:

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/high-fire-/May-2008/35685
 
So he's bi-amping with a bass and guitar head to get good lows and nice distortion?

I'm thinking about doing this as well. Using bass cabs for both + 1 bass head and 1 guitar head. Am I understanding this right?
 
I'll try to verify this when I see them in April. Last time out, we were too far away to make out anything besides the amps and cabs.

Odds are, though, I'll be too gone to pay much attention to gear.

Also, is it me, or has Des totally switched up his drumming style for the new record? I miss the heavy tom attack from the days of yore.
 
Kügel;8863445 said:
So he's bi-amping with a bass and guitar head to get good lows and nice distortion?

I'm thinking about doing this as well. Using bass cabs for both + 1 bass head and 1 guitar head. Am I understanding this right?

He also distorts the signal going into the SVT but I'm not sure if he uses the blend on MXR on that part of the signal.
 
When I saw HoF at in DC on 4.11.10
he played a First Act 12 string for the first few songs but I wasn't able to get close enough to see the pickup configuration. Walking around the room at the Black Cat I wasn't able to get a good mix of bass, drums and guitar until I plopped myself down right by Matz's monitor. Not only could a I hear everything perfect from time to time I could lean back and rest my spine on the sub (!!!)
he used his black Delgada mainly with a wine colored one on standby.
I didn't see the 8x10s or Emperor 4x15s I'm used to seeing him with. He had 2 4x10s with silver colored tweeters in the center (SWR?)and a Marshall 412 on his side of the stage. Off the stage he had two rack roadcased amps one was a 70's Laney head and an MTI SVT (it "could" be a skunkworks but the only way to tell would be a ?#/500 brass plate on the back) His pedalboard consisted of a TU-2, DS-1, Morley ABY, Line 6 DL4 and Ashdown hyperdrive. I have two closeups of his board one of which shows the settings on the hyperdrive but I have to check how to post pics before I embarass myself.
 
I saw them live a few times back around 2001-2003; I really should make an effort to catch them again in the near future.

Back then I was so awestruck by the number of fridge cabs they were using, in a tiny 100-person venue, that I didn't even notice what amps and effects they were using. :p
 
I saw them live a few times back around 2001-2003; I really should make an effort to catch them again in the near future.

Back then I was so awestruck by the number of fridge cabs they were using, in a tiny 100-person venue, that I didn't even notice what amps and effects they were using. :p

I saw them around this time too (w/ Planes Mistaken for Stars and Kylessa when they were still good).

Also, i was just stoaked on the sheer NUMBER of amps/cabs on stage i didn't pay attention to WHAT anything was.
 
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